Please, I implore you, if you are a parent of young children, used to be one, might be one someday, or just have friends who are parents, then read this article:
Don't Carpe Diem by Glennon Melton
(Read it first if you want the rest of this post to mean anything.)
Thank you, thank you Ms. Melton for giving us all permission to not love every minute!
Her Mount Everest analogy will stick with me for a long time, and I wonder if my ultra-marathon running friends could relate to it as well?
She put into words so perfectly the feeling I have so often, which is longing for the kids' bedtime all day, sometimes counting down the hours, only to then look back once they're finally asleep and reminisce about the sweeter moments of our day almost nostalgically, even though they just occurred mere hours earlier. Or what about all those times I'd check my own blog while at work, because the blog photographed version of my children felt more enjoyable than the live show? Turns out maybe that was just my own way of savoring the Kairos.
Carpe Kairos, my friends. (Just read the article and that will make sense.)
A Little Chef's Card Victory
11 years ago
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3 comments:
I read the article today and cried. Cried because I do savor the small moments and often I do think my kids are growing up too fast. But, on a daily basis, they test my patience, frustrate me, push me... And in the past four years, I have finally let go of the fact that I am not the mom who seizes the moment. I'm not even the mom who seizes the day or week (depending on how busy I am or a bad phase one of my kids may be going through). Long story short, I think that all new parents should read this and cut themselves some slack!
Even if I actually ever get pregnant, I don't think I'll really ever be into babies or enjoy those Target moments but it seems like an important and productive project/job worth taking on for the (hopefully) betterment of the world and probably some personal satisfaction. Parenting is still a job, even if incredibly fulfilling for most and assumed to be a natural function. I've had lots of parents admit that they don't love every second, that it's a pain in the ass at times etc... I have to assume the Carpe Diem folks are, as the author says, former parents.
I've never climbed Everest obviously but I look back at Susitna and remember 100% of it as pure awesome. I remember thinking at one point "Danni this is the worst thing you've ever done to yourself" and yet in hindsight (even though I didn't finish) it was an amazing, soul expanding experience. I'm sure parenting is much the same. It's only later that you can see the big picture and it's natural (for women at least) to forget pain.
Love it. Also read this one this week and enjoyed it:
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/to-the-mother-with-only-one-child
a little heavier but enjoyed it!
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